The Power of Impatience?
Walking the streets of Sienna under a full moon, the whole town under a shifting blanket of fog that seems to roll around on its own whims, I walk around a corner and the scene I photographed so unsuccessfully yesterday is now a canvas of pastel colours: lilacs and yellows and emergent pinks. I catch my breath and make a …
Mud-Wrestling the Muse
You are only as good as your camera, and your ability to use it. That’s the prevailing idea of the popular photography world. You see it in the ads, you see it on the discussions online, it’s implied in every camera review. But if that were true, wouldn’t we all be so much better now? Our cameras have never been …
I Feel Like I’m Faking it. You?
Among the well-worn tropes within the creative world is this: fake it till you make it. We’ve all said it. Or thought it. Particularly when we feel like we don’t belong, like we have no idea what we’re doing, when we feel like everyone else has their creative shit together and we’re staring into the void hoping no one discovers …
The Biggest Misconceptions in Photography?
The other day I watched (skimmed, really) a video on YouTube promising I’d learn about the 20 biggest misconceptions in photography. The video had 1.2 million views. What, I wondered, could so many photographers be getting so wrong? It turns out the answer included focus breathing, reciprocal rules, sweet spots, megapixel density, the non-existence of depth of field, and how …
My Photography, My Rules.
You know how I’m always going on and on about how there are no rules in photography? I’m going to back-pedal a bit on that because the more I look at my own creative life, the more I realize that I have some very important rules. Rules without which I don’t make the best photographs of which I’m capable. Rules …
How Do I Find My Style?
“How do I find my style?“ Over a month ago I asked you and everyone else who reads these bi-weekly missives about your greatest struggles and A-HA moments; overwhelmingly, finding “style” was one of the most repeated frustrations. It’s a common enough question, and my answer has always been roughly the same over the years (though I worry it always …
How to Please Your Audience Everytime.
We live in strange times. Never before has an artist of any stripe been able to put their work into the world so broadly and so quickly. Never before has an artist been able to hear every voice that cares to praise, criticize, or issue feedback with neither context nor conversation. Most often it’s just a binary reaction: a like …
The Paralysis of Perfection
Is Perfection Paralyzing You? After teaching photography for about a dozen years without stopping to take a break, it’s become clear to me that after a year with the camera in our hands, the primary problems for most of us as photographers are not photographic problems at all. The problem is that we think they are, and so we look …
Getting Out of Your Own Way
We’ve all been there. Out making photographs with friends, things are going so well. You’ve lined up your composition, the light is perfect, and just at the right moment…there’s a head in your frame! Who the heck? “Frank! Get out of my shot!” I’m not going to lie; I’m that guy. I don’t mean to be, and I’m sorry. What …
Wishing for Creativity.
“I sure wish I was more creative.” Have you ever said those words either to yourself or others? Every time I hear “I wish I were more creative,” I want to put my fingers in my ears and run out of the room. La-la-la-la-la, I can’t hear you! It’s a crappy mantra. You can be more creative. Being more creative …